Helen Chuah has become the first Malaysian Chinese Mayor of Colchester, UK. Prima facie, another ground breaking moment in 'British Chinese' politics following Thomas Chan, the first Chinese mayor in 2009.
However, I, BBCZeitgeist, find it rather perplexing how a humble immigrant nurse managed to become the UK's first female Chinese Mayor, in Essex of all places.
Historically, women have struggled for political reflective representation, currently there are 144 female MP's in parliament compared with 504 male MP's. Yet, in the European Parliament, 35% of MEP's are female, about half of UK Labour MEP's are female, indeed the only British Chinese MEP is female - Anna Lo. In a male dominated world of politics, how do British Chinese females compete on equal footing or in the case of Anna Lo et al, get ahead of Chinese men?
The five most high profile and successful British Chinese female politicians have much in common. With the exception of Mee Ling Ng OBE for whom I have been unable to ascertain any information about her private life, none of the other four Chinese female politicians were born in the UK nor are they married to Chinese men.
Helen Chuah, born in Malaysia, migrated to the UK in 1971 to work as a nurse, rising to a local St Anne’s councillor and the Mayor of Colchester. But how?
Its quite simple, she is married to the former Mayor of Colchester - Councillor Mike Hogg.
Helen Chuah with her husband Mike Hogg - former Mayor Of Colchester
Anna Lo, born in Hong Kong, a Chinese female Immigrant, the first Chinese to be elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly and the first Chinese born in Hong Kong (China) to sit in the European parliament. How did she do it? A very revealing interview here: http://www.newsletter.co.uk/lifestyle/features/i_have_perfect_life_says_alliance_s_lo_1_1880515
"My family in Hong Kong are very wealthy, with maids and chauffeurs."
"My (White) ex-husband was political correspondent with the Belfast Telegraph so through him I met a lot of senior politicians."
Did Anna Lo raise her mixed race Eurasian children to appreciate her ancestral home - China?
Last year her oldest son Conall Hon Watson was arrested in London as part of protests over China's human rights abuses in Tibet. Former UK student of the year Conall, 26, helped preparations for the protest after abseiling down Westminster Bridge and hanging a huge Free Tibet banner.
Is that how she raises her son to love her motherland? Was she ashamed of her son's anti-Chinese antics?
"I support my son completely. I am extremely proud of him. It's important that people understand both he and I have nothing against the Chinese people but against the Chinese government,"
If there is one phrase that encapsulates anti-China Sinophobic diatribe on a par with "I'm not racist but...," it is ..."I'm not against the Chinese people, but I'm against the Chinese government."
Anna Lo's Favourite country? Clearly not China.
"I love the United States"
Who is Anna Lo's Hero?
"Aung San Suu Kyi"
Nobel winning political prisoner, Aung San Suu Kyi studied and lived in England, she married the late Michael Aris (White husband), before returning to Burma on a platform of westcentric democratic human rights against her own country of origin. Sounds familiar?
Example 3, Liberal Democrat Merlene Emerson, Singaporean Chinese immigrant is married to a White male of Jewish descent. On her blog http://merlene.org.uk/en/article/2009/183027/what-s-in-a-name, she said...
Just as some with Jewish or Germanic names had chosen to anglicise theirs in the last century, many of us have taken on names that help us fit in. I was happy to adopt my husband's name when I married.
Example 4, former Baroness Lydia Dunn - First Chinese peer in the House of Lords, is married to Michael Thomas, former Attorney General of Hong Kong.
In politics, nepotism and cronyism are part of the furniture, Helen Chuah's rise to political office is just another story of a self hating Asian female (immigrant) marrying very influential non-Chinese (White) men to get ahead.
Further reading:
Above comment has been deleted
ReplyDeleteNice try, troll harder next time.
The pure truth is far away from trolling.
ReplyDeleteThis is a real problem within our race. I have nothing against interracial marriages, but when the inequality between the sexes (Chinese male/White female to Chinese female/White male) is so huge - 20 of the latter for every 1 of the former - though if you walk in the streets I think you'll find that statistic is completely out of date) there is a huge issue. Chinese women, through their own extreme need to ascend to the higher echelons of society, are sacrificing their heritage, their language, their culture, their very future.
ReplyDeleteYou will find that this pattern is exclusive to chinese women. Of the cases where white men are with black, asian or latino women, and vice versa (black/asian men with white women), you will find that the child grows up with a heritage that is proud of both backgrounds. They, or their parents, will never shun either background. They will certainly not go against their parents' country of origin - e.g. Pakistan, India, Nigeria etc.... there may be some very nasty stuff happening there, but instead of denouncing it and turning against their own race, they constructively look at how to improve the situation - not embarrass them further.
Which brings us on to Chinese women. It is a rare sight to hear of a Chinese woman who is proud of their heritage, who sticks up for their own, and in cases of them marrying white men, retaining that heritage for their next children. I recall a case of a chinese woman imitating the "ching chong" rants of that fat woman from the American talk show, whilst her white American husband laughed. And why wouldn't he laugh - the women of the supposedly next superpower are sacrificing their lives to white men at their whim, denigrating their own race for the amusement of whites.
The following comment says it all
"It's important that people understand both he and I have nothing against the Chinese people but against the Chinese government,"
And why would a Chinese woman, and a half Chinese man have anything against the Chinese people??? Why on earth would she feel the need to say that... you're Chinese yourself woman!!!! Indeed, I fear that she has been so terribly whitewashed that she actually believes herself and her son to be white... thus to need to say "it's not the Chinese people", as if she was protecting herself from accusations of racism.... only YOU'RE STILL CHINESE. Sorry to disappoint you love.
Regarding Chinese women in general and their desire for wealth...if any of you saw the Newsnight programme on the 23rd of May, they did a piece on Chinese men having difficulties finding a wife or even a girlfriend. Essentially the whole piece was telling us that Chinese women are unashamed gold diggers.
ReplyDeleteAccording to the stats, Chinese men have disposable income, but are choosing to live frugally because renting just isn't enough. Why? Because Chinese women want a man who has his own property. They then cut to a couple of Chinese women, one who quite freely said that if she wasn't married by 30, she would "open up the American and European markets" i.e. get a white man. The cameras then showed an open park space, where anxious parents held up signs for their sons and daughters in search of a partner for the kids. For men - all of them were not at all fussy about the type of woman they wanted. For women - all of them listed a stable job, owning a property as a must (in addition to other physical requirements e.g. height). Justin Rowlatt (the guy doing the piece, check out his "The Chinese are coming" series, it's pretty good) then asks why can't the couple buy a house together - in the west the two normally work and save up together.
"Because for Chinese women the man has to be offering something to be of value" the chap says bluntly.
The final scene cuts to a young Chinese couple having a date.
"So what are you looking for in a man?" the guy says.
"I have certain criteria... (pause).... but it depends on the person" she replies, quickly adding the last part as if she just remembered this was being filmed and she didn't want to appear like a gold digger to the world.
So there you have it. Whilst there are plenty of gold diggers the world over, none are as obvious, numerous and blunt about it as our own Chinese women.
'So there you have it. Whilst there are plenty of gold diggers the world over, none are as obvious, numerous and blunt about it as our own Chinese women.'
ReplyDeleteBut having said that, a lot of these women will end up being married to oversea Chinese like us. One to get a passport and secondly probably delusional to think that ALL Western Chinese men are filthy rich who owns a big house and drive a nice car.
Thanks for sharing the Newsnight link - interesting programme.
ReplyDeletestatistically, Chinese women have a lower rate of inter racial marriage than japanese and korean women in the USA, I wrote an article on the US census statistics previously and researched it thoroughly. I can even give you the precise statistics and tell you exactly which ethnic asian group has the highest and which has the lowest rates of inter racial marriage by gender in the US.
ReplyDelete